Pirate Papa
by ZeroTheDestroyer
Summary: Time Travel. In one time line, Luffy dies saving Robin in Enies Lobby. In another, an 8-year-old Oharan saves a castaway named...
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Ohara

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Where she lived it was just another Sunday. She could hear birds cry, the waves sing, and smell. Smell the scent of the ocean, of the sky, of the clouds, and the people around her. She walked past them, as usual, not wanting to be too close. It wouldn't do to be close to them. Not when they were likely to throw something at her. Well, not so much the adults as the children. Children could be so cruel after all.

Though she would find out later that adults could be crueler still, never saying what they truly feel, and always being evasive. She sighed to that. Then looked around. No one. Not a single person was around. She wondered why. They should be here. Someone should be here. It was her birthday. Didn't anyone want to celebrate her birthday? She was older. Well, older than she was last year.

She was a good person, she never hurt anyone, and always studied. She had just passed something, or at least she thought she had passed something. So why wasn't anyone celebrating with her? A day ago she had visited the Ohara library and they had celebrated her birthday, but it wasn't the same as having a celebration with the rest of her family. She wondered for a second if there was something wrong with her. What made her so hated, so despised, and isolated from the rest of her family?

Well, that wasn't so much a mystery to be honest. She wasn't their child. She was the child of a cousin, the child of an aunt, and the child of a sister. This was her adopted family, and even if they didn't truly despise her, they didn't particularly like her. Sure, her uncle wasn't so bad, but her aunt wanted her dead. Well, as near dead without her actually being a corpse. Which was a step from being what she would be if she was fed any less. She sighed at that, and grumbled. Even if she was hungry she wasn't going to complain.

She pushed her books away, and looked at the sky. For a second it happened. She could see it, and then she blinked and it was gone. The girl looked down at her hand. It was shaking. This was unusual. Reaction. That's what was happening. She was reacting to something, but what.. What could she be reacting to? As far as she knew devil fruit power did not react to anything. Or from what she read about them they shouldn't react to anything. Maybe she was just imagining.

Her hands shaking, trembling, and feeling something. Reaching out ever closer. This wasn't right. Imagination that's what was going on. She shook her head, and looked at her hand, then smiled. Good. This was normal. Nothing bad was happening. Nothing at all.

She stood up and dusted off her dress. It wasn't a particularly clean dress but it would do. Her aunt was generous enough to at least buy her more than one pair. Something she did not expect from the stingy old lady. Thoughts of her aunt made her slightly angry, but then she remembered that it was her birthday and those thoughts of anger was covered by thoughts of sadness. Why didn't they like her? It wasn't fair. She was a good person.

She sighed again and put the books away. Slowly she took steps towards the ocean. She stood on top of a cliff overlooking the sea and sniffed in the breeze. Smelled wonderful. Like the sky, only floating, in water, in the ground, above the ground, everywhere. So vast, giant, majestic. It was there, here, now, and she was...What was that? She looked. Something was out there. And she saw.

The girl stepped a little, a careful one, and took another one. Then another, and another, and another. Until she was at the edge of the cliff, and near a set of stairs. Looking down she saw something. Interesting, but also somewhat scary. She wondered if she should call someone, or could she see this person herself? No. She would have to be careful. Her professor had taught her to be careful. Clover would be angry if she did something rash.

But could she just leave this person behind? He or she might die if she, Nico Robin, did not do something. She made a decision and hoped she wouldn't regret it. Hitching up her dress she walked down the set of stairs and tried not to trip. She was only eight, eight year old girls did not have the best balance. If anything the chances of her falling was tremendously high and the last thing she wanted was to fall to the ground and die, not when she was trying to help someone.

That would be truly ironic, sad, and probably somewhat funny to the villagers behind her. Not that she would ever say this out load. Nico Robin was not the kind to voice out her feeling out load, it would only give the others more ammo to use against her, hurt her, and ultimately destroy her.

She reached him. It was a him. There was no her, or it. This was clearly male. Partly because it had the shape of a male, and mostly because he was naked and Robin could easily see him. She wondered if she should find something for him to wear, and sighed when she realized she had nothing. What could she give him? All she had were the clothes on her, and they weren't exactly the best set.

So then what? What could she do to help him. She knew. The reality was she couldn't do anything, and perhaps that was okay. If she could save his life that was fine. She stood there and took a look at his cuts. Deep, like some kind of wild animal had had his way with him. The thought put a frown on the girl's face. What kind of beast would do this to a man and let him live? Judging from the deep wounds it looked like some kind of giant tiger.

But tigers did not live around here, and by the giant cut on the middle of his back, there was no way it was a normal tiger. Perhaps a magical one? Devil fruit tiger? Magic tiger? Who knew. She certainly didn't. What to do. What to do. How did she help someone who was just mauled by a giant beast. She decided to just drag him to the shore. That was the first step. So she did, and it worked. Robin panted, but she had a smile on her face. She had helped someone and it felt good. When the person opened his eyes he would thank her and this would be worth it.

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Please Review: First time writing a One Piece fic.


	2. Girl From Ohara

**Chapter One**

A New Discovery

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Robin couldn't do much for the boy's wounds. She wasn't a medic or anything to that stretch, but what she lacked in knowledge she made up for with determination. She wanted to help, to heal, and to save, so that's what she did. Robin read up on how to fix wounds, and tried her best to implement what she learned but a few hours of reading just wasn't enough to garner the care and precision the boy needed.

"Thanks," he told her. A part of her wondered if he really meant it. " You're a nice person," he told her, and she bloomed.

No one had ever called her, aside from Clover, a nice person, yet this boy said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He called her, Nico Robin, the devil child…something that wasn't bad?

"No problem," she answered back, trying to hide her reddening face.

She went back to her kit to find whatever she needed to help. So far all she had were bandages, and the next part was the stitches. She just knew that it was a giant cat. Scratch marks so damn deep. It frustrated her that the boy wouldn't tell her anything about what happened.

Even more frustrating was how he kept looking at her quizzically while she tried to heal him as if he were observing something new and fascinating. Like she astounded him or something. But then he could just be very, very stupid. She had suspected as much after the first time he almost bit off his hand trying to eat something.

And how in the world did he manage to open his jaw to such a size?

Could he be a devil fruit user? What was his power, the power to eat food? Weird power, but then her power wasn't exactly normal looking either so she had no right to judge others in that end.

She looked at the sky, then looked at the boy. "I need to get back home, I'll be back tomorrow."

"Don't you have friends or something?" he asked her. "You've been coming here for the past, I don't know. Ever."

Ever since she found him, she'd been coming here to check up on him. It wasn't like she could just tell him that all the kids her age hated her. Would he hate her too if he knew? Probably. Better make sure he never finds out.

"I'll be back." She said again, trying to hide her shame. She succeeded. The boy wasn't very bright and from what she had gathered from him, certainly not very quick thinking. Most of his time he just spent looking at the sea, then at her, then at the scene, then at her. What was he waiting for anyway? Not that she could honestly say he was waiting for something in crystal clear clarity but that was probably the best solution to her problem.

She troughed back to her home and found another kit. Her aunt would be angry. Her aunt was always angry, and if she ever found out that she was feeding some drifter. Well, she honestly didn't want to think about it. No doubt her aunt would beat her, she always did. Even when she didn't do anything wrong. The girl clenched her fist and shook her head.

"No time, he needs me." For the first time someone needed her help. "Come on, Robin, you have to find something."

She had asked Doctor Clover for advice on healing bone wounds, and the doctor looked at her suspiciously. The wounds, scratches, slashes, on bones were not only hard to cure, but it required complicated surgery. So far Robin had more than a few hands with her nifty devil fruit powers but without the knowledge of a licensed medical expert, she just couldn't do much for him.

"Still not enough." She sighed and looked at the box she had.

She was going to see her friend today, or at least she thought of him as a friend. Truth be told the boy didn't talk very much. She couldn't even get a name out of him. All he did was make some vague comments, shrug, smile, eat, shrug, and then look at the ocean.

The only thing she could think of that was at the oceans right now were the marines. Was he some kind of runaway? The marines had been here more lately, and maybe they were looking for him. Maybe he was some kind of prisoner from the world government. She didn't want to think that way, but the way he had wounds like that…war…fights. Something to that extent.

That's all she could think of. Why else was he injured like that. He had to be some kind of fighter. But for which side. Was he a pirate, or was he one of the good guys. Not that the marines were always good, just saying that he could be one of the better ones. He was certainly friendly enough and the devil fruit powers she used to help him certainly didn't scare him off.

Robin stepped out of her house, to the pathway, and out to the front. She looked back, made sure that the door was locked, and turned back to the road in front of her. She would have to be careful not to get caught by any of her bullies. Not when she was carrying supplies like this. Normally having her things stolen wouldn't be that big of a deal, but today was different. If her friend didn't get enough food, he might actually die.

Sighing she put a foot over the other and started walking. The villagers of course ignored her. At least the adults did. Some of the parents moved away a bit quicker, while others muttered something she could easily here. She felt a bit insecure and hid her face further into her black bangs.

"Just ignore them."That's what Clover had told her to do. "Breathing exercises, Robin, breathing exercises'."

So she was calm now, she could deal with them. Nothing new. She turned away as a tomato almost hit her. "Not today."

She had already been hit by one yesterday. Then a thought struck her. She stood still and let a tomato come to her. With her powers she caught it in mid air and placed the fruit in her basket. One of the boys who threw this whined, and a girl shrieked. She didn't care. She had one more food for her friend.

She turned back, glared, and waved at the children with her many arms. They sprouted from her body, on the ground, on the walls, and one or two on the children themselves. It was a rather scary power now that she got a better look at it. No wonder they hated her so. Still, it wasn't nearly as strange as some of the other ones she read about. The Zoan fruits for example which could turn the user into some kind of animal.

She smiled thinking about the boy. "Maybe he ate the pig fruit."

Though he didn't act like one. He wasn't selfish, greedy, or a bore to be around. In fact he was generally very friendly, and even if he didn't say much, he didn't try and push her away. Then again it wasn't like he could push her away if given a chance.

She looked about to see if any other children were going to attack and smiled when she realized they weren't. Still as she left the street some of the children started whispering and the sounds reached her.

"They always talk about me." Always. About her clothes, her style, and how she looked. She didn't look particularly different from the other children but she wore a very drab dress.

She looked down at herself and frowned. If she could she would buy something better. This was just awful. The color matched her true enough but there were so many fringes and patches on it that no wonder the other girls didn't want to play with her. What girl in their right mind would play tea party with her? Especially when she looked like this. A glimpse of a mirror caught her eye and she turned in time to see her reflection.

She turned away, not wanting to stare. "Nothing like aunt, nothing like uncle, and nothing like her either…"

Her mother She remembered her mother briefly. They said she didn't, that she was too young, but Robin remembered what she looked like. She had white hair. It was beautiful, rare, and exotic. She wished she had inherited her mother's hair. Instead she got her father's simple black ones.

Grumbling she took a step over a hill and into the forest. Storm clouds were gathering in the sky, and already she could feel the winds pick up. Stopping near a tree she adjusted the weight on her pack and looked about for something to use as an umbrella if need be. Finding none she shrugged and proceeded. The boy would die, or she would get wet.

There was no question of what was more important.

Say what you will about Robin but the little girl had her priorities right. Stopping just at the spot of the stairs she stopped and looked down. There, he was right there. In the same spot she had left him yesterday. Could he really not move? Was he really that hurt. She had to admit that the gash from those claws probably took a toll on him, but he should have been able to move something.

Anything. Something that was still pinned down on his body.

But for him to be in such a state, it could only mean that the fight he had been in almost killed him. Then again when fighting giant animals one often did not come out of it alive. "Hey, I've got lunch."

The boy completely ignored her and continued to look at the ocean, trying to find something perhaps? Who knew. She certainly didn't. Little by little she made her way down the steps and froze. This couldn't be real. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. No. This was real. She narrowed her eyes as his arms did something that utterly fascinated and terrified her.

His arm. The one that was battered beyond repair reached out to the ocean and slowly started to stretch. She calculated the distance, it was beyond unbelievable. One meter, two meter, three meter…it just kept going. It was like he was made of rubber or something. A spring with powerful elastic potential. The sheer speed he was sending his arms out into the sea made her take a step back. With one powerful grasp, punch or slash with arms like that…she didn't even want to think about it.

"So he really is a fighter." She thought gloomily. "Maybe I shouldn't go near him." He might even be dangerous. But he hadn't done anything to her.

"What should I do." She wondered. Then realized that this wasn't really the time to be thinking like this. "I should at least give him his food-,"

Then he saw why he had been looking at the ocean all along. The boy's hand skimmed the top of it and pushed into the water. She palmed her face thinking that was one of the stupidest things he could do. The sea was the natural weakness of the devil fruit. One touch and the user would be weakened and in some cases paralyzed. But then she took a closer look and realized he wasn't dunking his entire hand into the sea. No. He was just brushing it. Like how a painter would put strokes on canvas.

And every time he took a swipe, at least a dozen fish jumped out. With his other hand he swung out like a bullet and caught the rising fish. Robin's eyes widened as his finger turned longer, larger, and stronger as it made some kind of net and caught the fish. This was one unusual devil fruit power, and a rather flexible one at that. Her own powers were only a single use, and they didn't change or shift form like he did.

Also she looked downright scary when she used hers, and well, the boy didn't look all that harmful now that she looked at him. He simply grinned as he collected his fish and stood there upright leaning on the boulder. Why didn't he look sad, angry, or mad? He was paralyzed from the leg down. Sort of. And until he got help all he could do was stay there and be completely and totally helpless. If the villagers ever got word that he was here, he was a goner, yet he didn't seem to care.

Sighing she finally got to him and stepped to his front. "Fishing?"

"Yeah, it's great." He grinned at her. "You want some?"

Robin thought about that. Did she really want some? Actually she did. Though she didn't have anything to cook the fish with. "Are you going to eat it raw?" Her answer was him smiling, looking at the fish, and just dropping it into his large gaping mouth. Robin cringed, and then snorted. This person was just plain ridiculous.

Why should she be afraid of him? There was just nothing he could do that was utterly terrifying. Now that she thought about it, all she would need to do was summon a few arms and even she could probably win against this one.

"You're still here?" he asked her.

"Yes." She answered. She knew what was coming. He is going to ask her why she wasn't with her family and all that. It wasn't surprising, but she hated this part of their relationship. "I wanted to see you….I don't like other people."

The boy smiled widely. "Well. At least you wanna see me." His grin continued to stretch, showing more teeth than was natural. Robin smiled. "But I'm a pretty boring guy. You should probably bring a game or something next time."

Robin looked at him thoughtfully for a second. "You would actually play a game with me?"

The boy blinked. "Why wouldn't I?"

Robin thought about that. Why not? It wasn't like there were any others on this island that she could play with. Still she was a bit nervous. No one had ever played a game with her. Well, no one outside of Clover, so if she screwed up…then this might be the last time.

Shaking her head she looked at the boy with determination. "How about cards?"

The boy nodded. "I used to play cards with my crew." He clamped his mouth. "I shouldn't have said that…."

So he had a crew. Good. So she had more of a clue what he was. He was now either a pirate, someone who ran a ship, or possibly a fisherman. Or perhaps all three. There was also a chance he was one of the marines but she doubted it when she considered what he was wearing. In fact that's what struck her. The days before he came into the shore with no shirt.

Only his strange rolled up jeans. But at one point or other he managed to get a hold of a red vest. It was frayed, damaged, and had bullet holes in them.

The marines were the best suspects for wielding weapons that caused bullet marks and Robin easily guessed the ones he was likely fighting were them. So he had to be some kind of outlaw. But she didn't want to call him on it. Not when he was fair company. Again. He didn't talk much, but he always smiled at her. He had a nice smile. Not like hers. Hers was always cast with doubt, with care, and precision.

His was natural, free, and loving. He seemed like the kind of person that could love deeply.

"So do you have cards?" he asked her. "I got some spare time before I stretch out my legs."

Robin looked down. She gasped. His legs were nearly healed. What kind of power did his fruit give him? All the black scars she saw yesterday had relatively vanished and what was left was a cake of patches. Did he even need her help if this was the kind of healing ability he had? She looked down gloomily. Even when she was trying to help someone, it wasn't necessary.

"Hey, I was wondering something." The boy looked at her. She continued to look down. Slowly the boy's hand stretched out and touched the bottom of her chin. With a slow push her face looked at his. "I was wondering….this is awkward but what's your name?"

Robin gasped. Should she tell him her name? I mean there was probably no harm in it, but still. Maybe he had heard something from a stray villager? Maybe someone had talked about her while they were walking by here? Maybe he knew either her mother or father. To be honest neither of her parents were very well liked so she could only count him knowing her parents as a negative. So should she bother telling him?

"I'll tell you mine."

That got her attention. If she gave out her name, she would get his. Good. Great. More clues as to who he was and maybe they can make a better relationship? It was certainly better than the kind she had with kids her own age, which revolved around dodging rocks and tomatoes.

"My name…" She took a deep breath. Her hands trembled, her eyes looked unfocused, and heart quickened. "My name is Nico Robin." She closed her eyes waiting to see him do something. Glare, yell, shout, or back away.

But he did something that utterly shocked her. He did something no one had done in years. Something she had forgotten existed. Something she had wanted other parents to do to her. Something she was beyond jealous of, utterly craved, needed, and wanted beyond the books she had in her arsenal.

He gave her a hug…

...then broke down in sobbing, ear splitting, teeth stretching, howling, nasal dripping, tears.

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Please Review: Keeping giving me feedback and I'll keep updating at this rapid pace! I just finished answering all the previous reviews. Hope it works. I'm so pumped with this story. First time I've considered writing a long term project. Well, let me know what you think. Hate it, love it, don't like Robin POV? Want Luffy back? Let me know.


	3. Hatless

**Chapter Two**

Without The Straw Hats

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Luffy's mind was going a thousand miles a minute, which to a normal person would be stressful but to the rubber man, it was downright scary. Robin. This girl was Nico Robin. His Nico Robin? The Robin he had just saved? That didn't make any sense. And why was she so small anyway? The last time she was taller, taller than him even. She wouldn't be caught wearing something like that, and well, she was a kid. So this couldn't be his Robin?

And yet that didn't stop him from hugging the little girl as she shook in his arms. Why? Why did he do that? Why couldn't he let go? He looked down. He sighed, this face, those eyes, that hair, those cheeks, the way she talked, that voice, and even that odd smell, like flowers. It was Robin. That was something he couldn't deny. But his Robin?

No. This wasn't his Robin.

This was another Robin. But it still felt safe being near her. Comforting, silent, and peaceful.

He never had a mother before and the closes thing he had to someone of that caliber was…Robin.

He let her go, and she backed away. She looked dizzy and Luffy wondered for a second if she was alright. He wasn't good at reading people, he never was. The only thing he could do was tell whether a person was in pain. Great tremendous pain that is. Ace. Zoro. Nami. Sanji. Chopper. Franky. They were all in so much pain. It was so easy to tell how they felt, and know how to help them.

But Robin was always different. She kept it hidden well, and always had that strange half smile on her face. Even the first day he met her, and the next time he met her. That smile never left her face. That day in the ship she asked to join his crew, wearing that strange cowgirl uniform and the hat. Looking down at him and his crew as if they were funny.

Robin. That was such a Robin thing to do. The girl took another step back, and still looked dizzy. Now Luffy was confused. A hug, a simple hug did that to her? Had she never been hugged by anyone before? Well, Luffy had experience with that. His grandfather wasn't the best person to ask for one. Partly because he would give you one after beating the crap out of you, and mostly because his hugs could break bones.

Whether old Garp knew his own strength Luffy wasn't sure, but he was damn sure his hugs couldn't do the damage his old man could.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. "Sorry." He didn't know why he should apologize, but he knew Nami once told him not to make girls cry. Well, he wasn't making her cry, but if she got any more off balance she might fall, get hurt, and cry. He didn't want that.

"I'm okay." She was still tipping from side to side. Her face was bright red. "I'm just." She cut herself off and shook her head. "Never mind."

Yes. This was Robin. Robin always knew answers to everything. Even when she was off balance she was always so calm and relaxed. She answered quickly and showed a high amount of intelligence under any situation. Nami was similar, only Nami would start yelling if things got too difficult. Like that time in Arlong Park.

His thoughts stopped.

Let it be said that Monkey D. Luffy was not a genius, but even he knew when to stop, and think about things. Especially when it came to his friends.

"Arlong is still alive." That also meant that the Park could still be created and all those in her old village were in danger. "How am I going to stop them?"

He had a bad sense of direction. Him and his fellow swordsman. Then another problem hit him. Zoro. Zoro was missing. No matter how he looked at it he wouldn't be able to contact Zoro because Zoro would only be one or two years old.

Great then another member of his crew was gone. Wait. He thought some more. He hated thinking. It hurt his head, but it was needed. If Zoro was a baby then…Sanji, Nami, and Usop weren't even born yet. Oh dear. This was not going well for Monkey D. Luffy.

In one fell swoop he had not only lost his entire crew but was denied their very existence.

"Mister are you okay?" Luffy looked down. Robin was tugging on his battered red vest. "Why are you looking like that?"

Luffy thought about that. Once again his head hurt. "I'm hungry." It was a Luffy thing to say. "More food!"

The girl looked unconvinced, frowned, then nodded her head. Good. She bought it. Say what you will about Monkey D. Luffy but he was good at convincing people with his sheer stupidity. Partly because he was stupid, but mostly because people were willing to believe he was borderline retarded. Which wasn't that far off, but there were points in his life that he could outsmart the best of them.

He did beat Crocodile after all, and you needed more than just raw power to defeat the Logia user.

Robin gave him another tomato and Luffy bit down it. "Robin, where do you live?" He just wanted to make conversation. The more he could distract the more he could think. He knew there was something important here. Something he was missing. But what? If Nami were here she would tell him. Zoro would probably be useless and Sanji would be going after women.

It was important. So important Ohara had to be destroyed. Something Cat. Bastard? Buster? Yes. It had a Buster in it. Something else. Caw? Cologne? Caw, caw, cawl, call! Yes. Call. It was the Bastard Call! Wait, that wasn't right! What was it? Buster call….Buster Call! His eyes immediately went to the ocean. Ohara was given the Buster Call.

The world government had destroyed this peaceful little village and whipped it off the face of the map.

At least that's what Robin said. Standing there on top of the Lobby with that freaky masked man with the whip. He clenched his fist at the memory. He had pushed Robin's face into the brick and broken her teeth till blood seeped out of her gums. For someone to do that to a girl, let alone his nakama…well he didn't want to think about it.

He would be dealt with later. Right now he had to think of a way to save Ohara.

Or at least Robin.

Something hit him. He turned to the side to see Robin frowning. "I said I live over there." She pointed to a house past the giant tree. The tree. The tree was important. Very important….Tree of Knowledge! "Are you listening to me?"

Luffy blinked. He wasn't. He grinned and rubbed the back of his head. Better to let the girl think he was retarded. It worked so far, why mess with a good thing? "Sorry. What was it?"

The girl sighed and picked up her book. "I have to get home." She sighed again and looked at the distance. The distance between herself, on the beach, and to a grove. Luffy could see it too. "The kids are coming here to play."

"Can't you play with them?" Luffy asked, still giving that large, toothy grin.

The girl looked worried. "I don't think that's a good idea." She rubbed her forehead. Then she started scratching it. Luffy got a better look at the bump and glared. It was the kind of bump one got when hit with a powerful blunt object. Luffy was no doctor but he knew what that looked like. Nami and Sanji had hit him with enough of those in his life.

"Who did that to you?" His hands reached out and touched her forehead. Robin backed away, then stood still. Slowly Luffy put his finger on top of her forehead and lifted up the single black blue hair strand. His glare intensified.

"It's just a scratch," she muttered.

"Who did that to you?" He repeated his question with a little more venom. This wasn't Robin, but that didn't he was going to leave her.

"Don't worry about it." She turned away, and hid behind him as a noise grew louder. Luffy looked up to see what it was.

At the top of the cliff the children started to gather. They were pretty ugly kids in Luffy's opinion and that was saying a lot considering the kind of people he grew up with. Some had buck tooth, others large noses, and a few with gross patches. The girls looked like monsters and he was pretty sure one of them was a troll. The problem was there was more than one, so he didn't get a good look at which was uglier. In the end it probably didn't matter.

They were a bunch of ugly kids and that was that.

One of them caught sight of Robin and Luffy started to feel her tremble. He guessed he freaked her out a bit with that hug so she was keeping a slight distance, but that still didn't stop her form using him as some kind of cover. The girl was afraid of the kids in front of her, and judging by the way a few of them were lugging around rocks, Luffy could guess why.

He frowned. "Let's go." He grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her upright. She was bending just to keep away from view, so she growled when he did this. Luffy didn't particulary care for that act. It was something Robin wouldn't do. The girl refused to show weakness. But then living the way she did probably cultivated those traits. Another thought struck him as he walked closer to the kids.

How was he going to save Robin? There had to be an easier way than just destroying the military. Like it or not Robin was researching something the world government did not want discovered.

He would have to think about that later. Right now he had some bullies to deal with. "Alright I need answers." The kids all looked at each other. Then one of them spotted Robin and flung a rock at her. It wasn't a big rock, but it could probably break someone's skull with the rate it was going. With his hand he instantly caught it in mid air. It didn't brush by Robin. But Robin backed away. Her face didn't change expression but he could see the hurt on it.

So this was what she was going thorough, thought the straw hat pirate. "Robin which one?" The girl looked at him oddly. "Which one threw a rock at you?"

The girl shook her head. Luffy looked ahead, and the children were coming closer. He knew why. He wasn't that stupid. Monkey D. Luffy was not a scary looking person. He was tall, yes, but slim. His body looked to be made of straws, and it showed. The boy sighed and extended his legs.

Slowly he grew, and grew, and grew. The children looked at each other, then backed away. The pirate smirked. He wasn't going to let them off that easy. "How about you wait?" He stretched his hands like spaghetti and captured a few. They screamed for thier parents, but Luffy didn't care. Let them come. If their parents came what would they do? Throw rocks at him? Call the Marines…wait that last part didn't sound good in Luffy's opinion.

He decided to put them down. "Robin, which one?" Robin understood the question it seemed because she took her finger and pointed to a really chubby boy in the corner.

Luffy took large steps towards the younger lad and leaned down. His body was stretched so tall that he looked like a giraffe. It made the kid's feet shake, and Robin looked a bit afraid to. Luffy grinned, showing him rows and rows of teeth. He remembered a good joke. Perhaps not a funny one, but a good one nonetheless.

"Do you know what I eat?" He opened his maw, once again, showing his jaw. "Can you guess?"

The boy shook his head. Luffy smiled even further, stretching out his face. He rubbed his belly while looking down at the boy, and he made gestures with his tongue. The same thing he did when Usopp's crew asked him where they took their supposed captain. It had a good effect back then, and there was no way it wouldn't have the same effect now.

"I didn't throw it!" He backed away. "It was the devil's fault?"

"Who are you calling devil?" Luffy continued to grow, smiling even wider. "I don't see any devil here?"

The other children had already run back to their homes, leaving only this boy, Robin, and himself. Robin was tugging on his pants, but he would settle this his way. Sometimes you had to be tough with kids to send a message. That was the only thing he knew about being a parent and whatever Garp and the Bandits that raised him and Ace taught.

"Robin!" He looked away. "She's the devil!"

Luffy again looked at Robin, who stared at the floor, then back at the boy. "I don't see any devil, do you?" He started laughing. It made a shishishi noise. Robin sort of giggled, but when he turned around he saw nothing. She hadn't changed her expression or anything, but there was a tinge of red on her cheeks. Interesting. Very much so.

"Look! I'm sorry! I won't throw a stone at her again! Please don't eat me!"

Luffy smiled. "Eat you?" He opened his grin to the max. "I got a better idea."

Before the boy could run Luffy had the boy's shorts and pulled up. It carried the struggling boy, giving the pirate a chance to hang him somewhere. "Hey, Robin, where do you want me to put him?"

Robin looked unsure, but then touching her forehead she got something in her eyes. Determination. Fire. This was a lot closer to the Robin he knew. "Put him on the school flagpole."

Luffy smirked and did so. As he stretched his hands deeper into the city, weaving, turning, and twisting through the street he found the flag she was talking about. Fortunately Robin had told her about landmarks on the island, and the school wasn't that far off from here. It only took a moment for even an idiot like Luffy to track it down, and once he placed the boy on the pole the real problem started.

"What the hell is that?" Someone came out of the house with a shotgun. "There is a devil here"!"

The town was alive with people. They stormed out of their houses with various tools. Luffy was amused to see not a single one of them held a proper weapon. As it should be in the West Blue. The East Blue wasn't much different. He prayed that no one would ever attack his home because the same results that would take place here might repeat itself. Especially with Shanks using his old home as a base.

"Shanks! I forgot about him." He had a chance to return to him his hat. He had failed to be Pirate King. It was only fair. Robin tugged at his pants. "Sorry, got distracted."

"Please don't do that." She tugged at his hand. Worry appeared in her eyes. "We should go." The seeing that he wasn't moving she tried harder. "Come on!"

Luffy shook his head. "No. We have to deal with this." His face turned resolute and he walked towards the town. Robin followed closely behind not wanting him to get into trouble. "They'll call the Marines!"

"I don't care."

"What?"

"I said I don't care." He turned to her. "They hurt you Robin."

The girl went silent for a second. Luffy couldn't read her. That face, so neutral, calm, and relaxed. Good. Old Robin was somewhere there. "What are you going to do?"

He smirked and flexed his muscles. "What I do best. Just watch."

So she did.

* * *

Please Review: Keep reviewing and I'll keep updating at this rapid fire pace. Gives me motivation, criticism, and an urge to improve. I'll reply when I have time.


	4. Stranger

**Chapter Three**

Just A Stranger

* * *

Luffy thought about what to do. He could do several things at this point. Hurt, maim, or scare them off. That would probably work, it would surely get them off Robin's back, but then they would retaliate when he was gone. He couldn't protect Robin like he could back in his ship. In his ship he was king, in his ship he could watch out for his crew, he was the long arm of the law. Out here was different; he was in Ohara.

West blue had a lot of problems with outsiders, or at least he guessed. As far as he knew only East Blue was neutral towards pirates, hence many of them, but the West was Marine territory. So what could he do?

The towns people were likely going to make that decision for him. He hated thinking. Grr. He thought, went around some plans, and came up with blanks. He looked at Robin, who was looking at him. She expected him to do something. She had seen his scars, his maw, and his torn clothes. She knew he was a fighter.

There was no way anyone would think otherwise. Why would they? He had fought the leopard man to a draw, and then things went to hell. His lungs still felt it. Those sharp bullets made of nothing piercing through him. Luffy frowned. Some of those devil fruits should be illegal. "I mean seriously, the guy had super strength, speed, and instincts like a berserker in full control..." He shook his head. Looking ahead one of the villagers was approaching. "Don't tell me I gotta fight this guy?"

He clenched his fist. He would rather not fight here. For one thing this wouldn't be a challenge, it would be a slaughter. As soon as he got serious this town would be leveled to the ground. There was another problem as well. He didn't know if there were other fruit users in the area. If Robin had powers, then others might also have powers nearby. If they came, and Luffy lost control...hmm that could be a serious problem.

He put his hands down. Let them come, he'd think of something by then, one step, two step, three. His stomach grumbled. What to do. What to do. Another step, they were almost near, getting closer. HIs stomach grumbled. So close, they were almost...his stomach?

He smiled.

Putting his hands over his head he made a yell. "I'm HUNGRY!"

The villagers stopped and looked at him carefully. "What the heck?"

Luffy smiled even wider. "I. AM. HUNGRY!"

Before anyone of them could get another word in he stretched out his hands and shot towards them. Some of the men dropped their axes, or at least the ones that had them. In all honesty most of them just had brooms. Sad. Very much so. His hands weren't after those of course. No. They were after something far more important. Like a slingshot his hands reached his target, a house, and his hands broke through the window.

Some of the villagers looked at him in confusion. What exactly was he doing? Why would he break into someone's house? What would he get out of this? Well Luffy knew well, and so would they in a few minutes. Because just then his hands came out, larger than a full grown man, holding onto a pantry full of food. Some of the villagers still had that strange expression, the expression of someone who was wondering if they were fighting someone crazy.

Well Luffy was crazy, he knew that well, but he could easily blame his old gramps for that.

"What is he doing?" One of them said. "Is he really going to eat all of that?"

Seeing that he wasn't getting any answers the man stopped to watch as Monkey D. Luffy dropped the contents of food, breads, and spices into his maw, gobbling it all in one go. Luffy looked back at them and gave them a large belch. "More." His hands shot out and went for another house, repeating the same process. At this point the villagers didn't know whether to laugh or yell. It was pretty hilarious watching the rubber man eat all of that food, but then one of them realized what was going on.

"The kid is eating all our food!" Then seeing the looks he was getting. "What'll happen when it runs out?" Seeing the shocked looks he frowned. "Guys we gotta stop him."

THe villagers were going to do so, seeing the gum gum boy expanding like a balloon as he went through stores and stores of houses just to get the food. But there was another problem. As he kept eating, he kept getting larger, taller, and possibly even stronger. Where he looked thin before his muscles became firmer, tougher, and more defined. It looked like he was instantly healing.

What kind of power was this many wondered?

But this wasn't the time to worry about that. The boy was going to eat them out of house and home, plus winter was coming. They needed all the food they could get their hands on, and this strange devil fruit user was going to take everything they had in one go. That just couldn't be allowed. But as they tried to grab his arms and legs they realized another problem. He was like an immovable object.

He just looked at his target with that stupid smiling face, grinned at them, and then ate their stores. It didn't matter if you threw rock, stone, axe, or knife, the rubber would just bounce them back, and he would continue eating.

"Stop this! We need that to get through winter!" The villagers were dog pilling the boy, who was still expanding, only not just vertically, but also in sheer girth.

"Robin, tell him to stop." This was said by a fat lady with stringy red hair.

"Auntie, I don't know how..." Robin looked on in sheer wonder and confusion.

She was expecting a fight, not this. He was causing sheer chaos without having to hurt a single person. Was this his way of getting revenge for her? It was both funny, sad, and really, really stupid. Still it was nice to see the villagers sad for a change. After all those times they glared at her, Clover, and the archeologist they had this coming...still this was kind of annoying.

"Mr Rubber?" It was the name she decided to give him. "Can you please stop?"

"No."

"...Why not?"

Luffy knew why not. He had to make the villagers see something they hadn't yet. See the real Robin. The Robin who wanted to help them. Of course he couldn't say that outright. There has never been a moment in his entire life he said things outright. Letting them come towards a conclusion, try to figure his hidden meanings.

That's how Monkey D. Luffy worked. He could have told Zoro back when Nami stole their ship that Nami had a hidden agenda, one that depended much on his cooperation. He could have told Nami that Usopp had a hidden power, one that would be a great asset to their crew, that he was the son of one of the power houses of the world, that if given time he would be worth the investment, but he never did that.

Monkey D. Luffy never gave straight answers, and even when he did they were confusing, vague, and often misinterpreted.

Let the villagers watch Robin try to defend them from himself. That's what he wanted. So far he wasn't sure if it was working. would they think Robin was on their side, or would they think Robin was working with him. Hmm. Time. That's all he needed. Robin tugging at his red shirt, telling him to stop, and the villagers watching was the first step of the equations.

"Robin, do something!"

"Robin tell him to stop eating our food!"

"Robin!"

"Robin?"

"Robin..."

Interesting. This was occurring faster than he anticipated. Now all that was left was to let them think Robin had some kind of control over him. As if a child could do anything to take even a mere possession of himself. But this was all about perception. Say what you will about old Garp, but his lessons in psychology, that consisted basically on intimidating the hell out of people close to him worked.

It worked back in East Blue, and it was working here in the West. Cowards. That's really all they were. They were too afraid to stand near the might of greatness, even if Luffy was not as great as he thought himself to be.

"I think you've done enough." The girl frowned. "If you don't stop I won't talk to you anymore." Good. This was what he needed to hear. He turned to see Robin, fire in her eyes, determination, soul, whatever one liked to call a powerful will to face off against someone stronger. "Stop."

He did. He dropped their food, retraced his hands, and closed his gapping mouth. Let this be a lesson to them, he thought. Let them not mess with Robin, he thought. He turned back to the villagers, giving them another grin. His grins were nice, kind, friendly, positive, and all of that, but in the darkness, in the waning afternoon light, they could be downright scary. It wasn't that dark now, but, well, without the sun shining in the sky, brighter than a thousand balls of fire, his giant grin just looked feral.

No two ways about it.

He took a step back, still with that smile on his face, and looked at Robin. "Well, Robin, what do you think they should say?"

The girl looked at him in confusion. Luffy resisted the urge to snort. He did all that and the girl wasn't going to take advantage of the situation. Sigh. So much like Zoro. Wonder if his crew even realized how many shared traits they had? Probably not. Otherwise Nami wouldn't go around yelling that he and the swordsman were just loser nice guys who not only finished last, but near dead last at that.

"Robin?" The girl again looked confused. She looked at the villagers, to him, back to the villagers, to him, and then nodded. She turned towards the villagers and said, "I stopped him."

The villagers looked at each other, then to their brooms, axes, and fishing rods, then dropped them. They scratched their heads and eyed Robin critically. "So...he wasn't with you?"

Robin shook her head.

Luffy could understand the confusion of the villagers of course. They had thought the evil devil child was going to kill them, attack them, or something to that like. Bringing a man larger than life, with a strange devil fruit that frankly horrified many people, well, he could understand their mode of thinking alright. Still, they should have known better. Over the few days he spent watching Robin, Luffy had realized something very important.

The girl was gentle, shy, and non violent. How the villagers didn't see that Luffy wasn't entirely sure, though to be honest Luffy wasn't particularly smart, so that wasn't much of a surprise, still...

"I think you should thank Robin." He tried not to sound stupid. His raspy voice, high pitched tune, and a mixture of bad grammar always made people NOT take him seriously. In the past this was good. That was what he wanted He always took advantage of that and he could count the number of times being NOT taken seriously cost his opponents. He smirked thinking about the Lightning man. God of the Sky my Rubber ass, he thinks.

Then again he wasn't the only one to title himself. Practically any pirate who gained a certain level of power called themselves something to that like.

"Why should we?" This was said by the same fat, red haired lady. Luffy tilted his head. Robin had called her something. He narrowed his eyes trying to get a better look. Luffy was never good with faces, but when he used his head sometimes miracles happened. Those eyes, that skin, that growl, that smirk when Robin stopped him. Hmm. What was she? Troll? Beast? Demon? Fishman? Fish troll?

"Auntie you don't need to." Robin again took her place behind him.

Luffy tried not to laugh. He put his hands on his mouth. This was just gold. The ugly piece of crap in front of him was her aunt? They looked absolutely nothing alike. Different hair, skin, and eye color. He looked down to see a girl standing beside her. It was an ugly girl, not overweight, but ugly nonetheless. Probably Robin's cousin. If Ace was here he would probably have something to say about this family.

That's for sure.

Sanji would vomit, Zoro would shake his head, Nami would straight our laugh, she was shallow that way, and Chopper would be scolding them for making fun of someone's looks...wait Chopper?

How old was Chopper? Was the deer even alive?

"I really should have asked how old they were." Then another thought struck him. "Crap, we never celebrated ANYONE'S birthday."

No wonder Nami got mad so often. Girls liked birthdays didn't they? Had he ever got her a present? Had he given anyone a present before? Why was he thinking like this now? Why did it even matter Shouldn't he be focusing on the aunt who was now trying to get around him and grab onto Robin?

"Don't touch her." He rose into the air with his rubber man powers, towering over the towns people like a goliath. "You get one warning." He was dead serious.

The aunt backed away once, looked around, then smirked. "You and what army?"

Luffy frowned. Was she this stupid? Couldn't she see that with one stomp, kick, punch, or even blow he could send her into the ocean? He could demolish this town with ease, and, well, he was Straw Hat Luffy of the East Blue. The strongest Pirate of the East Blue, and the one who would be Pirate King one day. Wait. That wasn't right. How could he be Pirate King when...was Gold D. Roger alive?

His mouth opened wide.

Good Lord, how was he going to be King of the Pirates when the current one wasn't even dead yet? Then something even more horrifying occurred. Ace. Didn't someone say he was Gold D. Roger's bastard? Where did he hear it? A bar? From a villager? From Ace? He couldn't remember but if his brother wasn't even born...well there goes the rest of his family.

Family. Wait a minute, there was still one person left. "Oh crap! All I got is Gramps!" The irony. The only person in the world he could depend on is his old gramps. He shook his head, and tried not to bash it with his large fists. He spent his whole life trying to run from the man, but now he was going to need him more than ever. Or would he? Once again thinking was not his strong point. Let him think on it later.

The aunt had somehow gotten behind him while he thought. Not good. Not cool. "Didn't I tell you not to touch her?"

"It's okay Mr. Rubber. " Robin backed away from him, and let the fat sac of aunt take her. "You should probably go before they called the Marines."

She looked down as she said this. Not good. Robin was upset. They made Robin sad. Luffy didn't like that, not at all. When Arlong made Nami cry, he killed him.

When Captain Kuro hurt Usopp he almost murdered him, and when Mihawk almost sliced Zoro a new one, well, he was willing to risk his life to get his friend back. Even if Zoro and him weren't very close at the time. The point is no one hurt Luffy's friends. They were all he had, aside from Gramps, and if you messed his Nakama, you messed with him.

"Robin, do you want to go back with her?" He meant this. Did she really want to go back to a house where they hit her?" Robin?"

Robin paused. Her aunt stopped and then forced her arm up, she cried out in pain but didn't say anything. "I...I..."

"Robin, tell me you want to go back with her and I'll let you go back." No. He wouldn't. Even if she told him otherwise he would take her by force.

That face. It was the same face she made when she accepted her execution, the same face she made when he had her slung over his back. He remembered her telling him to leave him, that this was all a waste of time, that they were going to die. And then he looked at her, really looked at her, and told her

'Why do I have to listen to you?' Which was true. Why did he have to listen to someone who was lying. It didn't make any sense.

"It's fine." The girl walked back with her aunt. "Thanks...for trying." Oh. He wasn't done yet. "Sorry Mr. Rubber."

And once again she was going back to the abyss. A place where she couldn't be here, where she would run, where she would hide, away from him, from her friends (not that she had any at this point) and from reality. Would he let her go back into the dark? Into a place where all that awaits her was misery?

No one wants to be alone. No one is fated to be alone. Everyone deserves a chance to find friends, to be happy, to have a second chance.

Luffy's thoughts stopped. His mind hurt so very much. This was his second chance. No. That was wrong. This wasn't just his second chance. This was Robin's second chance, Zoro's second chance, Usop, Nami, Sanji, Chopper... everyone's chance. He knew all their futures, knew of the trouble they had been through, knew how to stop them from becoming the people they would grow up to be.

"Bye Mr. Rubber."

But should he do anything to change them. Looking ahead, at the crowd who were going back to their houses, looking extremely confused, he wondered. Should he stop this? Just let it go? Let them grow up to be who they would be? If he saved them wouldn't they turn out to be different? Turn out to be...normal people. He frowned at that. Luffy didn't have a problem with normal people, but normal people had a problem with him.

If he did save them, and they grew up like any other then they might grow up to hate him. After all, he was a pirate, he was the grandson of an admiral, and he was the son of the Dragon, not that he knew much about the Dragon, but he did hear about it once or twice.

'I knew a D. once." Robin had said that. 'He...'

"Stop." The villagers stopped, some of them had already gotten back to their houses, muttering about stupid Devil fruits users eating all their food. "Give me Robin."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll hurt you." He smiled. "Like how you hurt Robin."

He took two steps towards the aunt. The lady started screeching for help, but Luffy wouldn't have any of that. "Robin tell me...what do you want?" Screw the future. He was going to help her. "Robin tell me what you want?"

"I want."

"Do you want me to save you?"

"I want..."

"Do you want me to take you away?"

"I..." She looked at him. Luffy hadn't noticed this before. Her eyes were blue, deep as the sea. This was a girl of the ocean, a child of a sailor. "I don't know you..."

And that was the problem. She didn't know him.

To her he was just a stranger. Mr. Rubber. She didn't even know his name. What could he expect? could he just take a little girl away from her home? Just like that? In an instant? No. He couldn't. Oh he could force it, but in the end she would grow up to hate him. Wait. Grow up? What's this about growing up, he wasn't considering actually raising her was he?

He was no father.

And therein lies the crux of the problem.

Robin wasn't Coby. Coby could survive in the sea under the cruel guard of the Ugliest Woman on the Planet. But eight year old Nico Robin was just …

…eight years old.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Rubber." She paused and smiled, before they went back to the darkness. "Thanks for trying."

Luffy sighed. "No problem, Robin." What to do? It would be so much easier if there was a villain for him to fight. "Where is Crocodile when you need him?"

* * *

Please Review: Did I handle this right? Should Luffy have forced her to come with him? Would Robin be easily swayed to come? Let me know. Did I do good? Bad? Any errors? Comments welcome. Keep reviewing and I'll keep posting.


	5. King

**Chapter Five**

King

* * *

Luffy walked in circles.

He hadn't handled that situation well, not at all. Maybe he should have just beat them up? That's what he was good at. He shook his head. No, that wouldn't have done anything. Maybe just gotten her in trouble. He did the right thing, he let her go, and gave his warning to the villagers. But now what was he going to do? The marines would be here in days, or even hours, and he didn't have a single person to help him fight them off.

He turned his gaze to the giant tree he saw earlier. His eyes narrowed slightly, it was hard to see in the dark, and harder still when his eye sight wasn't good to begin with. All that time in sea hadn't helped his pupils any, nor his depth perception, ironic considering how long he had been down there in the bottom while he drifted.

He sighed and took a step towards the tree, then another, until he was doing a decent jog. He didn't understand why he needed to run, but figured he would get the exercise. With one quick leap he crossed the distance between himself and the tree and took a better look at it. it was large, larger than he anticipated, and the bark even more so. At the top were leaves, and in the middle were windows. He looked around for a door, then palmed his face when he realized all he would need to go was walk around the bark.

After doing so he found what many would consider to be a door bell. He looked at the sky, noticing how dark it was, and shrugged. Whether they would be closed or not wasn't the problem. The problem was would he need to break in? After all, he needed a place to sleep. Libraries were good places to sleep weren't they? He used to sleep in them all the time when he was a kid. Reading books about pirates, adventures, and monsters in the deep sea.

Then again he was only a kid, so the same rules might not apply but he would give it a shot.

He waited, and waited some more and growled. He was also pretty hungry. That last stunt had satisfied some of his appetite, but it wasn't enough. He needed more food, if he was going to take on the marines…wait a minute? Was he really going to take them on, on his own? Without anyone's help? Just him? And his half decent power? He thought about it. Probably. There wasn't really any way around it.

Just then he stopped thinking though, because someone was opening the door. He looked both ways to see if this was a trap. Say what you will about Luffy, but old Garp had drilled a sense of paranoia into him when it came to surprises, whether he acted on them was another matter altogether.

"Hello, is anyone out there?" Luffy frowned. "Hello?"

"Me!"

The door opened wide, and someone came out. Luffy put his hand on his mouth. This was pretty funny. Well, at least the guy standing in front of him was. He wore what looked like a purple bath robe, a pair of flip flops, and some kind of jacket over all that. But that wasn't even the main reason he was so damn hilarious. His hair. Luffy couldn't help it, he had to giggle. The guy's hair, the large, ornamental hair. It was a nightmare, and not just the average kind.

"Excuse me? Do you find something funny?" The man didn't look amused, but he probably was used to it Luffy thought, there wasn't any way around NOT realizing he had hair like that? "Why are you holding onto your mouth like that young man?"

Luffy shook his head. He didn't want to answer, if he did he would let go of his mouth and start rolling on the floor. The man's hair was shaped like a clover. An honest to god clover. Luffy briefly wondered if he could use it as a fan? For shade? Find weather patterns? Like some kind of antenna? Probably, and probably more than that still. But he had to be polite, even if this person was likely a weirdo.

Beggars can't be choosers, and Luffy needed a place to stay.

"Is the library open?" he asked. He paused, normally he wouldn't add the last part, but figured it wouldn't hurt. "Um, sir?"

The man looked at him oddly. "You do realize it's almost night, don't you?"

Luffy shrugged. "I feel like reading." He rubbed his nose. "Can I come in?"

The man still gave him that strange expression, looked both ways, as if looking for traps, looked at him again, then sighed. "Very well, leave your shoes at the door." He looked down, and frowned. "On second thought, you don't have shoes, just…wipe off your feet before you come in."

Luffy smiled, giving the man his giant grin, and did just that. The man, who introduced himself as Clover, told him to take a seat while he got a towel to help dry his feet off. Luffy didn't see what the big deal was, so what if he got sand on the floor. The floor looked pretty dirty already. Then he looked at his feet and rethought that. The reason the man asked was probably because his looks. He was downright filthy, was there a way to get a bath out of this deal?

Frowning he looked for anything that looked like a washroom. "Clover-san, do you know if there is a washroom here?"

The old man came out a door and sighed. "Yes, there is one down there." He pointed to the washroom. "Please don't make a mess, I know your kind." The man looked downright suspicious. "And take this with you." He tossed Luffy the towel, and the rubber man caught it with ease.

Once he was done cleaning himself, he came back refreshed. Good. This was a good idea after all. He remembered a few homeless people using public faculties to take a bath, sure they left the place down right guttered, but it was better than smelling like crap the entire day. He wondered what Clover would say when he saw what a mess he had made of his washroom, and shrugged. It would be a problem for another time, or until the old man had the need to bleed the lizard.

"Can I help you, young…"

"Lufffffffy!" Luffy extended his hand. "Name's Monkey D. Luffy."

The man hesitated, looking at the hand suspiciously, but decided to take it anyway. Luffy figured the man should be suspicious. It wasn't every day a strange boy, like himself, wandered into what looked like a library in the middle of the night. Especially when the villagers didn't seem to take kindly to said library. Or at least that's what Robin.

Say what you will about Luffy, but on occasion he COULD listen.

After a short pause the old man got down to business. He didn't seem like the aggressive type, nor the unfriendly type, but the way his eyes were shadowed, it appeared he hadn't had much sleep. He put a hand to his chin, studying Luffy, then yawned. "This may be an odd question Mr. Luffy, but what are you doing here?" He paused to let that sink in. "I mean, it's getting late is it not?"

Luffy paused as well. He totally forgot that you needed a reason to be in a library. He needed to have some kind of excuse. What could he say? That he was looking for books? Maybe borrowing something to listen to? Just browsing? Wanting to talk to the patrons? Wait, there weren't any patrons here, this was some kind of Research Library? What the hell was a Research Library? He shook his head, not the time to be distracted.

"I'm here, er, looking for." He tried to think of something and looked around for a topic. What could he say? He looked at his hand; an idea struck him. "Devil fruit powers!"

The old man raised both of his eyebrows. This was good, he had the older man's interest. Devil fruits were a mystery of both the sea and the grand line. Though one could argue both were the same thing. He smiled victoriously seeing the older man's interest rise with every passing millisecond.

"What are you looking for in particular?" He was testing Luffy, trying to find out the depths of his curiosity. "And why are you looking for Devil fruit powers?"

Oh. So the man thought he was looking for devil fruits? Well, that made perfect sense. Why would someone come to the library just to read up on them? You can probably make up a power and sure enough it exists. Now the current locations were another matter, or at least the predicted locations. Luffy wasn't sure if there was even any strict island where the fruits grew, but he was damn sure the Navy would keep track of them.

"Hmm, I don't really wanna find powers." He smiled. "I just want to.." What could he say, then another flash of insight came. It was so simple, why didn't he think of it before? It was something he wanted, needed, and craved just short of being the King of Pirates. "I wanna know how to make my powers stronger!"

The old man's eyebrows shot up. "Your powers stronger?" He looked at Luffy carefully. "So I'm assuming you already have a fruit power?"

He looked curious now. Good. Luffy had him. He knew these types. Robin was one, Nami was another, and Zoro to a lesser extent. Once they found a mystery they would do all they can to solve it. Luffy himself was never the puzzle solver, and was often confused why knowing everything was important, but far be it for him to judge other people's character traits.

He was downright strange himself. "I've got a power, you could say," he said coyly, giving the man a smile. "You wanna guess what it is?"

The man's old heat was gone. In its place was admiration, and curiosity. He had him hook , line, and sinker. He was an academic, and those types always wanted to know the truth behind a mystery. Luffy laughed his 'shishishishis' laugh as he thought of it. Good old Nami was coming in handy after all, maybe being around her made him a better schemer than he thought?

"I'm interested, I can't lie about that." The man looked him up and down. "May I have a clue what this power of yours is?"

Luffy smiled. "Stretch." That was the only clue he was going to give the old man. In his opinion it was a damn good one. "That's it, sir."

The old man rubbed his chin. His eyes flashed, then went blank, then flashed again. This was how the old man thought? In lightning speed, gathering up the info, sorting through them, thinking about it, then repeating the process again. He looked from side to side, up and down, then sighed.

"Let me think on it, good sir." He smiled. "Unless you will provide another clue?"

Luffy smiled. He stretched out his hand sort of, and let the old man see. Clover gasped, and took a step back. To him this was downright incredible. The boy's hand was stretching farther and farther past him. It was like he was made of…."Rubber."

Luffy smiled. "There ya go!" He retracted his hand, in a flash, and looked at it again. "The Gum Gum Fruit."

Clover grinned. "The Gum Gum fruit…interesting. That particular fruit is missing from my archives, I'm going to need to research it some more, and, well, if you don't mind, it's effects." He pulled out a pen from his pocket. "If you wouldn't mind that is?"

Luffy shook his head. "Can I have a seat, some food, and a place to sleep?" He knew he was asking a lot, but if the man wanted to study him, then he was going to play hardball.

Clover sighed. "You should have just said so in the first place, I knew you weren't here for books." Then seeing how he had insulted the boy he retracted his words. "Not that I'm saying you are dumb or anything, young man, it's just that."

Luffy waved him off with his toothy grin. "It's fine, I'm used to it." He took a seat on nearby chair, put his feet on the table, and looked at the ceiling. "But now that you mention it, do you know a way to make my powers stronger?"

Clover paused. Did he know a way? The old man wasn't sure. There were ways to make those powers stronger, but that was only with Haki. Unless this boy had a substantial amount there was just no way anything he told him was going to help, but then he wasn't asking whether or not they would help, he just wanted to know. Maybe telling him outright might help, maybe it wouldn't but for now he would give the boy the answer.

"Well, that depends. If you enforce your hands with this conceptual energy called Haki…"

Lufy tuned out most of the man's dialogue, but he did manage to pull out something useful. Haki was, primarily, a force that existed in every living thing. It was a type of energy that could be used in battle, but had other uses too.

Haki is separated into three categories: Kenbunshoku Haki, which grants users a sixth sense of the world around them and limited precognitive abilities; Busōshoku Haki, which allows the user to use their spirit as armor to defend against attacks or to make their own attacks more potent; and Haōshoku Haki, a rare type of Haki only one in a million can use which grants the user the ability to overpower the will of others. Of the three types of Haki, the last one is the most rare, and possibly the most dangerous. Some even called it the Will of the King. The young straw hat grinned at that.

He liked its sound.

"So how do I get Haki?" Luffy asked.

The old man looked at him strangely, again, and shook his head. "I told you, you don't just 'get' Haki. Haki gets you." Then seeing the blank look on the homeless boy he shook his head. "What I mean is you have to be born with it. Essentially we are all born with Haki, but, well, the more useful kind need to be awakened."

"Er, how?"

"Training for one," the man muttered, then scratched his chin. "Or just plain forcing out your will, if you have the last type of Haki."

Luffy thought about that. How would someone force their will onto others? That didn't make any sense? Did it? Was he even hearing this right? Will was something inside of a person wasn't it? It was possibly an emotion? An internal desire maybe? How could a person's will turn into something real and bend someone over? He needed a better explanation.

"I don't wanna admit this but, I'm kinda stupid." Actually he didn't mind admitting this at all, but it was probably something he wanted to hear. "So can you make it easier for me to get?" He tilted his head for emphasize.

The man palmed his head. "Oh, woe is me, I'm sorry young man." He titled his head too. "Sometimes I ramble, and ramble." He sighed. "Let me make this simple for you: you have to be in a life and death situation to find out the extent of your Haki abilities."

Luffy frowned. "I've been in plenty of those." He frowned even more, stretching his giant face into a level of strangeness that Clover had to frown himself. "And nothin' ever happens."

"Perhaps you were never in any real danger?"

Luffy thought about that? Was he ever in danger? Did he ever fight a villain that could actually kill him if he went all out? He had his Devil fruit powers to back him up, along with Garp's training, even if most of it was downright useless after repeated use of his Gum Gums, but still…did he need to be in supreme danger to activate it? If so then he would probably need something to get rid of his Gum Gum fruit powers wouldn't he? Otherwise he would be invulnerable to many attacks, he was a rubber man after all.

'I'm rubber your glue, anything you do goes right back to you.'

The old man seemed to be thinking the same thing. Though probably in a much more complex way, and had an answer to his problem too. "I'm assuming you've come to the same conclusion?" Luffy nodded, though he had to catch himself from falling. Thinking made him dizzy, best to leave that task for Nami, Robin, and Zoro. "And you probably need to neutralize the Devil's power before your Haki can take shape, don't you?"

"Huh?"

The man sighed. "What I'm trying to say is, you need to find a way to stop being so damn invincible." The man knew nothing of Luffy, but he knew that a being made of rubber made him fairly hard to kill. Projectiles, long range bullets, and even canons would just bounce off him. sharper blades too, to a lesser extent, unless the wielder jabbed it right into the younger man, and even then the boy could just re-enforce his skin with more rubber, until it became some kind of armor.

Judging by the way his muscles corded, Clover assumed he could do just that.

"In any case, do you want to test if you have Haki?" Luffy nodded. Clover sighed. "Well, the first step would be to find Sea stone."

Luffy froze. Sea Stone. He remembered what it was. It was the same material that Smoker had used on him before he entered the grand line. He barely made it out alive that time, and he doubted he would make it out alive if Clover decided to collect a bounty on an unknown Devil fruit user, but then, by the way Robin described the old man, he doubted he had such intentions. He was a scholar, a writer, and a librarian. What would he do with a bounty anyway? And if the Marines were going to destroy the tree, well, he didn't want to go there.

Not yet. Those thoughts just brought him back to Robin, and he had to resist the urge to go back to her.

"Are you sure there isn't any other way?" He really, really didn't want to use Sea stone. "Anything?"

The man scratched his chin. "In the island of the Amazon there is this…well, I suppose that's not an option either." He shook his head. "No, Sea stone is likely your best bet." He smiled. "And fortunately for you we happen to have a few in our disposal."

Luffy looked at him with a deadpan. "Er, can I ask why you'd have'em in the first place?" Now the old man looked suspicious. Was he really a bounty hunter? Why would he keep something so dangerous to a fruit user like that? What would he gain. "Sir?"

The man waved him off. "It's not mine, boy, a few days ago we found a sack full of them. This was particularly odd because the sack was about the size of myself." He paused to let that sink in. "It had draw strings and a handle too, almost like it belonged to to a giant." Clover shook his head. "But it had the Marines insignia on it, so there is no way it can belong to a giant, giants do not normally work with Marines."

Luffy gulped. This did not sound good. The words Robin had said in his timeline started coming in to the forefront of his mind.

'I knew a D. once…'

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Please Review: Keep reviewing and I'll keep this rapid update speed! Let me know what I did wrong, or right.


	6. Fate

**Chapter Six**

Fated Meeting

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Robin walked out of her home with her head held down. The talk from her aunt hadn't gone well. Though she didn't expect it to , considering what happened and all. Still, this was normal. Her aunt yelled at her regardless of what she did, and this was just another scratch on an otherwise scarred ego. Sighing she decided to see if her hands were clean, and finding they were, nodded to herself and collected her writing materials.

She was supposed to stay away from the stranger who lived by the shore, Mr. Rubber, and had to keep in touch every few hours.

Smiling bitterly she walked around the house, and to the direction of another shore. This one was her secret base, a place no one else knew about, well, at least she hoped they didn't. It wasn't one that had a set of stairs, and you can easily fall to the sands and die if you went over that cliff. Either way it was peaceful, noisy, and beautiful. It provided a spectacular view of the ocean, and the horizon.

So when she got there all she could was pause and look at it.

Robin loved the ocean, not so much for its vast beauty, but more for what it contained. Her mother was in the ocean, travelling to some foreign site, a place she probably wouldn't be able to go to. After all, Clover and the other archeologists had told her that she wouldn't be studying what they studied, apparently she would be in trouble if they studied those ancient writings, but she didn't care.

She was lonely, afraid, and in need of companionship. "Wonder if Mr. Rubber is thinking about me?" Probably, she figured.

He seemed to genuinely care about her, but why? Why would he care? He didn't even know her? Right? Okay, so she saved his life, big deal, right? He was a pirate, pirates didn't care about things like that. Though, in his defense, he did give it his best to do something about the kids who picked on her. That thought brought a smile on her face. Those strange Devil fruit powers, combined with his twisted personality was enough to cow the town's people, and if used correctly he could probably get the villagers to hand over more food. Lest he unleashes the might of his rubber man powers?

"Rubber man," she snorted. "What could he really do?" Probably more than her? Probably, though she hadn't tested the limits of her abilities yet.

She put her book down and sat on the cliff. Looking down her head felt dizzy so she decided to change direction, looking now at the horizon. Until she realized something. Well, not so much realized as heard. It was a deep rumble. Like the rumble a big cat makes. Freezing for a moment to check for any predators, Robin came to the conclusion that it wasn't a dangerous animal at all. So what was it?

Getting off her position she stood up, reached out with her devil powers to sense for any foreign invaders, and looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing at all…unless you counted the giant sleeping under a forest nearby. Quickly deciding to retract her hands, which held eyes on them, she packed her bag, and went down to look.

A Giant. A real live Giant! She had never seen one before, she had read about them, of course, but to see one in real life. Well, hmm, Clover would have to know about this!

"And what better way than firsthand account?"

Slowly walking around the trees, finding any holes she could go through, she saw him. He was HUGE. With all words capitalized. A body larger than a ship, a face wider than a house, a maw full of blunt gaping teeth, a belly large enough to fit a living room. She shivered slightly, but then got it back in control. No use being scared now, besides, he was sleeping. What would a sleeping giant do?

"Never tickle a sleeping dragon, that's what." Yes, she the saying would work in this case too.

Backing away, without making any noise, Robin managed to get a fair amount of distance before snap a twig. She chided herself for her carelessness and looked back. Good. Nothing. The giant was still asleep. Strange considering how large his ears were, but maybe it didn't pick up sound as well as it thought it did? Or maybe he was just a heavy sleeper? He would have to be, considering how heavy the waves were in these parts.

"Now I just have to get back home, and…" Tell Clover? And then what? What would Clover do? Call the Marines? Tell her to stay away? Probably. There, that would be the end of her adventure. And, more importantly, she had noticed something about the giant. "He's actually badly hurt."

So if she told anyone of his existence he would likely be dead. She wasn't an idiot. She knew damn well what the villagers would do if shown weakness; they would destroy it. These people were cowards by nature, but, well, if they had a shot of being famous, say famous for killing a 'Giant!' despite it being asleep, they would take it. And had the thing even done anything to them? Why should they harm it when it hadn't done anything to anyone? It didn't make any sense!

"But what should I do?" She should help it like she helped Mr. Rubber?

Mr. Rubber was one thing, a boy, but this thing, was, well, a predator of mankind wasn't it? She sighed. This was a hard decision. She sat down, looked back at the creature, then looked ahead. What to do, what to do! Villagers vs. Giant. Which was more important?

An image of the kids throwing rocks at her made that decision.

Nodding to herself Robin stood up, looked out into the ocean, and reached out with her Devil fruit powers. Hands started to spring out of her arms, they made chains upon chains, linking together in twisted, ungodly, ways, becoming stronger, more durable, and flexible. They reached out into the ocean, only to become numb again. Robin frowned. The sea was the weakness of all fruit users, and when she touched it, the salt water made her powers numb.

"But how did Mr. Rubber make his hands go into the sea to catch fish?" Hmm, interesting.

He must have had some serious training, or conditioning, to be able to do that. But then he was skimming wasn't he? Feeling out for the fishes, and grasping it from the surface. Smiling to herself she decided to test out that theory, and dip her hand into the sea. One fish, two fish, three fish..got it! Her hands closed in on the fish, and it squirmed. More hands reached out to grasp the fish once she plucked it out of the water.

Genius, absolutely genius! Skimming for fishes with her powers! Why didn't she try it before? She would have to thank the boy later.

Right now she had a giant to feed. Walking back to the place where she found him, she kneeled down, and started piling the fishes her hands skimmed out of the ocean. She wondered briefly if the beast like man ate his food raw or cooked, and figured cooked. Judging by the way he dressed this guy looked to be a civilian of sorts, otherwise he wouldn't be wearing boxers with the world government logo on the tag.

She shuddered briefly for catching a glimpse of that, but got her poker face back on.

Using a flint, and some leaves along with a hundred or so hands, she was able to make a fire, and cook most of the fish. The scent wafted into her nose, and probably the giant's too. It would have to, considering the rumbling noises he made, and the yawns that started to come out of him. Slowly, with great hesitation, his giant eyelids came open.

"He's got really funny eyes." They were half closed and a little more circular than the average person. "But he doesn't look that dangerous now."

Truth be told he looked somewhat funny. Smiling, she made another whip made of hands, and speared them into a pile of cooked fish. Bit by bit she put the food into his mouth, which opened wide to accept it, and smiled even more when he muttered 'food.' Okay. Good. So he wasn't a man eater, or at least he liked fish. Perhaps he wasn't as dangerous as she thought?

Then realizing she had smiled, she frowned. Not good. Not good at all. "Poker face, Robin, Poker face."

It wouldn't do to show any emotion, even in front of a creature that could care less about what another human felt. She learned long ago that feeling nothing was better than feeling something, or at least her aunt taught her that. After that day she tried on her cousin's dress, hmm, she certainly didn't want to go there.

Eventually, her pile of fish was gone, but that was alright. Apparently the red haired man had his fill. So much fill that he had the energy to reach out and grasp what looked like a cowboy hat. Robin tilted her head at that. What would a giant need style for? Giant's in the wild cared little for style. This lent further credence that perhaps he really was the civilized kind, but for which side? World Government? Or the Revolutionaries?

"Interesting." More thoughts.

Eventually the thing had enough coherency to put sentences together, though "give water'" might not have been grammatically correct, but far be it for her to say that. The only problem was she didn't have fresh water. She thought about that problem, and came up with a solution. Concentrating on the location she directed her hands to sprout from the ground, to a nearby well; fortunately for her the island wasn't particularly big.

With slow precision, the hand that reached into the well got the water, and the other hands passed the bucket to her location. Anyone seeing this would think it an odd, and horrifying sight, but she didn't care. Saving lives were important. She had been a hero once, and she would be one again. Though this one might be more trouble than he was worth.

"Here, drink slowly." She passed him the bucket of water. "You might choke otherwise."

She wasn't so sure about that part, but it was what her aunt told her. Probably just to spite her, not that she actually cared about her to be specific.

The giant did just that. It drank the water slowly, making sure to get every drop out of the bucket with its enormous pink tongue. Robin tried not to giggle at the picture. Seriously, the thing was plain comical. Or it would be comical if it didn't look so injured. Its giant purple shirt was in tatters, along with its half cut khakis. There were scars covering the top of his face, made from recent weaponry, and, well, he hadn't shaved in days, or so it seemed.

The giant beard was nearly twice the length of his face, and Robin could see animals crawling out of there. "I'm going to need a bigger razor," she muttered. "Do giant's even shave?" Probably not by the look of him.

Slowly, the giant met her eyes. She backed away once, then twice, then stopped. Its eyes were harmless, like that of a puppy, she paused, and sighed. Trust her to find harmless people, who turn out to be dangerous later on. Shaking her head she put out her hands. The giant placed the bucket of water back on, and leaned on the base of the cliff. With a large belch he shook the ground, and sent a smell that was incredibly foul.

"Sorry," the thing gasped. "I hadn't eatin' in das." He had a very funny accent. "Can ya get me more w'ter?"

Robin nodded. After feeding him at least twenty more buckets he continued his dialogue. "That's b'tter." He smiled. It was friendly. Robin resistd to do in kind. Nico Robin didn't smile. Not often, and not in the open. "Ya sav'd me life."

"I suppose I did." She said this respectfully. "You didn't look like you could have lasted much longer."

The thing gave a large groan, then looked at the ocean. Robin got a look at the scars on his face, and the patches of missing hair on his beard. There was probably a cut or two in there. She wondered if getting a disinfectant would be a good idea. She hadn't done that for Mr. Rubber, mostly because his body healed itself quickly, but what about giants? Again, more thoughts.

"I was in er pickle." He turned his face to her, she noticed he had that half smile even when his mouth was opened. It was kind of bizarre, but oddly comforting. "Some people are af'ter ma." Bad people, Robin guessed, judging by the bullet and canon marks on the purple shirt. "So I'd reca'mend ya don't come 'ere often, lass."

Now she felt affronted. How dare he tell her what to do? Especially when she saved him. If she weren't here he would be vulture food, or some amusement attraction for the villagers when they found his dead corpse. But she wouldn't say this out load, no, not Robin, she would have to keep her game face on, and extract as much information as she could out of him.

She acted bored. "Oh. Pity." She looked at the horizon, then back to him. "I'll come back with more food tomorrow."

The giant looked surprised. "Ya aren't gonna ask me what I be doin' here, lass?"

Robin shrugged. "No, not really." She frowned. "You aren't particularly interesting." Which was true, archeology was more interesting, but how often did one run into a giant?

The man looked somewhat insulted. "Lass, now I wanna tells ya about me self." He frowned. "Cause, I don't know, maybe I owes ya?"

Robin shrugged. "If you want." She smiled internally. Information, data, knowledge, they were all keys to success, and Clover would have to let her join his crew if she gave him the right kind. "Suit yourself."

The man nodded and poked his chin. He frowned, and pulled out something big. It was a fairly large snake. Robin tried not to laugh at the sight. How in the world did he not feel that until now? The thing was as big as a python! It certainly wasn't native to these parts, probably from some other location, so he must have drifted pretty far to get one of those sea snakes into his beard.

She shook her head. Best to let the man explain his situation first. The snake could wait for later. "So you're a giant?"

The man nodded. "Aye, lass, I be a giant." He looked thoughtful. It looked funny. But still he was thoughtful. Weird. Truly, it was. "My name's Saul." He paused, then sighed. "Jaguar D. Saul."

That got Robin's attention. She had seen references to the D. , but had no idea what it meant. The mystery of that initial lay in those ancient writings, but she couldn't read them. Firstly, only Clover had those texts. Secondly, Clover wouldn't let her touch those texts! So maybe, just maybe this man knew the mystery behind D? Well, it was worth a shot.

"Why is there a D. in your name?"

Giant man looked surprised, his scratched his hair arms on his belly. "I don't know, lass, but everyone in me family has dat name." He tilted his large head. "Or at least everyone in me line, as far back as I can remember."

She nodded again. Hmm, intriguing. So not only people, but giants had that D initial as well? This lead to more question than answers, and Robin was more than up to the task of solving that mystery. "Okay."

The giant smiled. "Okay, that's all you gotta say." It barked out a laugh. "Ya see a giant and all ya gotta say is 'what is the d stand for' and 'okay." It palmed his hand on his face, and chuckled. Quickly his face morphed into a strange expression. His eyes became slits, with tears on them, his mouth widened, and he made a strange noise.

"Dereshisishisisisis, Dereshisihishsishis…."

Now this was funny.

Forget everything she had seen about him. This face, this laugh, and that weird 'dereshisishsihsis' sound...how in the world was she supposed to take him seriously? She put her hand on her mouth and hoped to the Gods of the Seas that he wouldn't spot it. Robin prided herself on her calm demeanor, and having it all collapse in front of this guy wouldn't do. Not when she wanted to come off as aloof and somewhat emotionless. She had failed to do so with Mr. Rubber, but, well, this was a new chance!

But alas that was for not. "Ya find it funny, lass?"

She shook her head. "No, not really."

He grinned. "Ya do, ya do!" He rubbed his stomach, and looked away. "Everyone does, lass, dey say I have dis weird laugh, but I can't help it ya see." He gave her a half smile. "It's in me nature, I guess."

"But I thought-,"

"Giants be violent killers, lass?" He sighed. "Aye, they be, they be." He looked away from her. "But, not all of'em. Some of us won't hur't no fly." He shook his head. "And some of us lose our way, lass, remember dat. Dere ain't no same giant as dere ain't no same people, we all be different." Then he looked at her carefully. "But ya know what? That's not what yer here for, so I'll just keep me story brief." He sighed, took a deep breath, looked at the horizon, then back at her. "See bad people be after ma, so I gotz ta make me raft…"

And as he told his story, Robin got the distinct impression that these 'bad people' spelled trouble for not just him, but the villagers as well.

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Please Review: The reason I update so quickly is because you motivate me to do so. Thank you for your comments, and concerns! I love to hear them. Someone pointed out my time line error and character error as well, thanks a lot for your help. And, no, there probably won't be any original straw hats in this one, aside from possibly Franky. Let me know what you think of this chapter. I've been busy so it might take a me a while to respond to your reviews.


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